What interested me most here is the idea that exhaustion often begins long before external pressure appears — in the moment responsiveness quietly becomes identity. The piece understands something many people feel but rarely articulate clearly: that attention itself has become an environment requiring protection, not just management.
I am not gonna lie, I was hoping to see you comment here Antonio. Attention became currency on its own. As you highlighted, it’s about protection - not management. Especially kids, pre-teens and teens are being handed the river before anyone taught them they don’t have to swim it.
“Not every piece of information is worth your attention. While some data points are actionable signals, the majority are an endless void of low-quality distraction. The real damage isn’t the noise itself — it’s that we are slowly losing the ability to distinguish what’s important from what’s merely urgent.” This part stood out to me because I am someone with a strong sense of urgency. The line you wrote taught me a valuable lesson today.
I hear you, I used to be the same. Instant replies, always available, constantly scanning my mailbox or simply doomscrolling. Now as we are flooded with more low quality crap and pressure to keep up with AI, ironically I’m doing better with refusing to absorb all the noise. Nowadays it’s a luxury to disconnect
Indeed, it all comes down to self discipline and whether you can actually put a set of simple rules in place and truly stick to them. Yet I’m aware that many people will read my essay, understand the “best practice” let’s calll it and just move on with their lives. If this read can spark at least a tiny reflection on ourselves and how we manage our mental filters (if any), I’d be very pleased.
Indeed. I see this as a valuable side quest to unlock and essential skill that helps you to survive in many areas of life. Email is one thing, but what about social media, news or clarity when you need to make an important decision? I think we are all fed up at certain point of hearing others opinion.
Digital Sunburn’ is such a useful way to describe that slow overexposure to information that starts to feel normal, especially when responsiveness gets mistaken for thoughtfulness. I’ve been thinking about this a lot since stepping away from daily notes on here. I realised I didn’t want to turn Substack into another place where I was trying to keep up, stay visible, respond to everything, and 'feed the machine'. So much of better writing, and better reading, depends on protecting the attention you’re writing and reading from. Strategic ignorance feels like the right phrase for that. Not disengaging, just choosing not to let every signal become a demand. A great piece :)
Hi Jade, great to hear again for you. Thank you for sharing your perspective, I definitely see where you are coming from. Algorithms have no mercy but we have to always make it clear what’s our goal whether it’s make money/be famous/have fun or simply learn something new. We set the expectations for ourselves and that’s again that harness we forgot we are sometimes wearing, that poison that we are drinking willingly every day….undrrstanding what doesn’t serve you is already a big step forward. This is the true growth, not the subscriber or follower count!
What interested me most here is the idea that exhaustion often begins long before external pressure appears — in the moment responsiveness quietly becomes identity. The piece understands something many people feel but rarely articulate clearly: that attention itself has become an environment requiring protection, not just management.
I am not gonna lie, I was hoping to see you comment here Antonio. Attention became currency on its own. As you highlighted, it’s about protection - not management. Especially kids, pre-teens and teens are being handed the river before anyone taught them they don’t have to swim it.
“Not every piece of information is worth your attention. While some data points are actionable signals, the majority are an endless void of low-quality distraction. The real damage isn’t the noise itself — it’s that we are slowly losing the ability to distinguish what’s important from what’s merely urgent.” This part stood out to me because I am someone with a strong sense of urgency. The line you wrote taught me a valuable lesson today.
I hear you, I used to be the same. Instant replies, always available, constantly scanning my mailbox or simply doomscrolling. Now as we are flooded with more low quality crap and pressure to keep up with AI, ironically I’m doing better with refusing to absorb all the noise. Nowadays it’s a luxury to disconnect
I think this one is the most underrated rule "Apply the one-question filter."
Indeed, it all comes down to self discipline and whether you can actually put a set of simple rules in place and truly stick to them. Yet I’m aware that many people will read my essay, understand the “best practice” let’s calll it and just move on with their lives. If this read can spark at least a tiny reflection on ourselves and how we manage our mental filters (if any), I’d be very pleased.
As a former people pleaser I HEAR you and thank you for reminding me of this aspect of the topic as well.
It is hard to sieve through the emails and influx of info.
Indeed. I see this as a valuable side quest to unlock and essential skill that helps you to survive in many areas of life. Email is one thing, but what about social media, news or clarity when you need to make an important decision? I think we are all fed up at certain point of hearing others opinion.
Digital Sunburn’ is such a useful way to describe that slow overexposure to information that starts to feel normal, especially when responsiveness gets mistaken for thoughtfulness. I’ve been thinking about this a lot since stepping away from daily notes on here. I realised I didn’t want to turn Substack into another place where I was trying to keep up, stay visible, respond to everything, and 'feed the machine'. So much of better writing, and better reading, depends on protecting the attention you’re writing and reading from. Strategic ignorance feels like the right phrase for that. Not disengaging, just choosing not to let every signal become a demand. A great piece :)
Hi Jade, great to hear again for you. Thank you for sharing your perspective, I definitely see where you are coming from. Algorithms have no mercy but we have to always make it clear what’s our goal whether it’s make money/be famous/have fun or simply learn something new. We set the expectations for ourselves and that’s again that harness we forgot we are sometimes wearing, that poison that we are drinking willingly every day….undrrstanding what doesn’t serve you is already a big step forward. This is the true growth, not the subscriber or follower count!
I couldn't agree more :-)